The Kearny Police Department needs the public’s help identifying and locating a man involved in a February carjacking with a baby inside the vehicle in the ShopRite parking lot, the department said today.
The man police seek is seen in the photos with this story.
If you’re wondering why this is happening now, it’s because police say they have exhausted all other means of attempting to identify the suspect. Pleas to the public are generally a last resort when all other means have not succeeded.
Here’s what happened in the carjacking incident.
On Feb. 21, 2022, at 9:59 a.m., Officer Anthony Nunez went to ShopRite on Passaic Avenue on a report of a carjacking in which an SUV was stolen with a baby inside it. Preliminarily, it was alleged a 42-year-old Bronx man was loading groceries into his white BMW SUV when a red BMW SUV pulled alongside it.
A man exited the red SUV and then entered the driver’s door of the victim’s white SUV. The victim tried to stop the carjacker but was dragged and then fell to the ground, fracturing his arm. The carjacker then drove off with the victim’s daughter, aged 1, still inside the stolen SUV.
Officers from Kearny, East Newark, Harrison and Hudson County quickly located the stolen vehicle with the baby inside it on Passaic Avenue in East Newark, unhurt. The carjacker abandoned the SUV and fled before police arrived. The victim was treated for his injury at Clara Maass Medical Center, Belleville.
On Feb. 23, 2022, detectives also recovered the “drop-off” vehicle, the red BMW SUV, stranded in a mud pit in an abandoned lot in Newark. It had been reported stolen from Carlstadt.
The case remains under investigation by Det. Jordenson Jean, who may be reached at (201) 998-1313 ext. 2839, or at jjean@kearnynjpd.org or anonymously at tips@kearnynjpd.org.
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Kevin A. Canessa Jr. is the editor of and broadcaster at The Observer, an organization he has served since 2006. He is responsible for the editorial content of the newspaper and website, the production of the e-Newspaper, writing several stories per week (including the weekly editorial), conducting live broadcasts on social media channels such as YouTube, Facebook, and X, including a weekly recap of the news — and much more behind the scenes. Between 2006 and 2008, he introduced the newspaper to its first-ever blog — which included podcasts, audio and video. Originally from Jersey City, Kevin lived in Kearny until 2004, lived in Port St. Lucie. Florida, for four years until February 2016 and in March of that year, he moved back to Kearny to return to The Observer full time. Click Here to send Kevin an email.